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The lack of preparation for last month's tsunami illustrates shocking disparities in how science is applied in different regions of the world. The global response to the disaster offers a glimmer of hope that these disparities will be addressed.
Growing up on Einstein Street in Haifa, Israel, Dorit Aharonov was perhaps destined to study physics. But she pursued other interests before finally settling on quantum computation. Haim Watzman reports.
So far, string theory has defied experiments, but Nima Arkani-Hamed thinks he has found a way to put the idea to the test. Geoff Brumfiel finds out how.
The electronic behaviour of some forms of matter doesn't match theory. Geoff Brumfiel meets Senthil Todadri, a man who wants to change our view of how electrons behave.
Ionic conductors have many applications — in sensors, fuel cells and batteries. Are nanoelectronic devices based on ionic conductors now about to replace silicon?
The unusual case of SM, a person who has a very specific deficit in recognizing fearful expressions on people's faces, is providing intriguing insights into how we perceive emotion.
Gene flow between populations — caused by migration, for instance — is most often viewed as a homogenizing force in evolution. But two studies of wild birds and non-random dispersal find otherwise.
The outer Earth grew largely from material added by impacts from planetesimals, rather than by capture of dust grains from the solar nebula — or at least that's the inference from the latest geochemical analyses.
The ways in which HIV can subvert cellular processes for its own ends seem boundless. The latest discovery — a cellular enzyme that helps to export HIV RNA from the nucleus — reveals a possible drug target.